David Mueller’s hiring comes as the #MeToo movement draws attention to sexual assault and harassment

In this sketch provided by courtroom artist Jeff Kandyba, former radio host David Mueller appears in federal court Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017, in Denver. (Jeff Kandyba, The Associated Press)

Disc jockey David Mueller was fired from his job at Denver radio station KYGO in June 2013 after Swift said he slipped his hand underneath her dress and grabbed her bare buttocks while they posed together for a photograph.

Mueller denied the accusations, sued Swift for $3 million and lost. She countersued for a single dollar, signaling that the suit wasn’t about money to her. She won.

Still, Larry Fuss, the chief executive of Delta Radio, believes him and not her. He hired Mueller as a DJ on country music station KIX in Greenwood, Mississippi, where on Monday Mueller began co-hosting a morning show called “Jackson & Jonbob,” according to the New York Daily News and Inside Radio. Mueller, who used the pseudonym “Jackson” in his last job, goes by the name Jackson at his new job as well.

During the trial, Swift testified that when Mueller groped her, “I remember being frantic, distressed, feeling violated in a way I had never experienced before.” And her mother, Andrea Swift, testified that when she heard about the incident she “wanted to vomit and cry at the same time.”

“I sat down with him face-to-face in Minneapolis before I offered him the job and talked to him about it,” Fuss told the Daily News. “He’s either the world’s best liar, or he’s telling the truth. I tend to believe his version of the story and most people who have talked to him face-to-face do believe his version of the story.”

Mueller’s hiring comes in the midst of the #MeToo movement, which has drawn attention to sexual harassment and assault, particularly in the workplace. Swift was one of the women featured on the Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” cover, which dubbed her a “silence breaker” for speaking out about the Mueller incident.

Many of Taylor Swift’s fans took to Twitter to express their anger with Delta Radio’s decision to hire Mueller. Some posted Fuss’ phone number and email address, asking others to inundate him with angry calls and messages. Others simply wrote indignant notes.

One user tweeted, “Larry Fuss, #TimesUp,” adding, “You might want to look into the hashtag. Because I can tell you right now, the backlash you are receiving right now for your hiring decisions goes way beyond just Taylor Swift fans. This is about women, respect for women, and we will no longer be silent.”

Another user claimed she “made a donation to Times Up legal fund on behalf of Larry Fuss.” She said that abusers shouldn’t “get a second chance. I think they need to get over the fact that they are ostracized because of their actions.”

Fuss dismissed the social media outcry.

“Most of them need to get a life,” he told the New York Daily News. “Most of the response I have seen this morning – there’s been quite a few on our Facebook page, and none of it is radio people, none of it is local people in Mississippi. It’s all originating from some Taylor Swift fan group somewhere. They’re telling people to go to this station’s Web page and post negative comments.”

“It’s just people who don’t have a clue, or don’t really have any knowledge of the facts” he added.

Fuss said he hired Mueller because “in the radio business, it’s all about what comes out of the speakers” and Mueller “sounds good.” But he did admit that the decision was “maybe a tiny bit” about publicity.

Neither Fuss nor Mueller responded to requests for comment from The Washington Post.